Y7 - Son’s Height Worry

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I’m an average height (5’6”) mum of four (3 x girls, 1 x boy) and married to a tall (6’7”) man. Our girls (20, 17, 14) measure 5’ 10”, 5’8” and 5’11” respectfully. Our Y6 boy measures just 4’6” and is starting Secondary School in September. I’m beyond worry, he is the smallest, by far, in his class and looks so young. He’s asked when I think he’ll start growing. I have tried reassure him it’ll be soon. Please help!!
How can I man him up? Secondary Ready?

My son is in y7 and is 4ft 7. He is certainly not the shortest in his class. Don't worry.

And when he left y6 in July there were 3 boys in his class shorter than him. Perhaps your son's class is just exceptionally tall?

DS always smallest in his year has grown 6 inches since November (year 8)

Damn - needs new shoes and clothes!!!

My son was about the same height when he started y7. He was the shortest by far in his class all through primary school, apart from one girl. Even so, when he started in y7 he was actually not far off middle of the range of 200 odd boys - the range was extraordinary. There were boys who were already 6ft and boys a head or more shorter than him! Not only that but, towards the end of y7 and over the summer as puberty kicked in, hes had a huge growth spurt and is now about 5ft 2/3 in y8 and growing at a much accelerated rate. He is by no means the tallest, and wont ever be I dont think (I am short) but he doesnt stand out anymore as being particularly short. Dont worry, it will be fine. You'll be amazed at how much they grow when puberty gets going.

Agree with Space Cadet get a referral to an endocrinolgist to monitor over the next couple of years. I would write a comprehensive letter to GP prior to appointment so it’s not all discussed in front of your son. I work with 14/15 yr old boys and have seen remarkable results once growth hormone has been administered. It’s very useful to have data on the boys eg height,weight, growth spurts etc etc & most I’ve worked with have already been monitored from age 10/11.

Just attaching an average height by sex and age chart for information
UK averages

Ds was about 4 ft 4 when he started in Year 7 & had to have his blazer specially made. He was the smallest child by far.

He’s now in Year 9 & in his new school there are a couple of others the same size or smaller. He’s about 4ft 9/10 & wearing age 10-11 clothes.

My yr 7 son is 12 next month and 137cm and under 5stone. Always smallest.

I took him to GP in Sept and he was referred to hospital to put 'my mind at rest' I cancelled as I'm short and my son hasn't hit puberty either. I didn't want to mess him about and when I looked into what was involved in growth hormones even if you could get them, we (my son and I) both thought forget it. He wasn't hung up on it, I realised it was mainly me.

He's happy and healthy you see so I try not to get hung up on it now.

Honestly, try not to worry

DS1 is 11. He has had a lifelong friend (female) who's birthday is within a week of his. He was always half a head taller than her, until about a year ago when she shot up and is now half a head taller than him!

I think it is often the case that girls hit the teenage growth spurt a bit earlier than boys, but then stop it sooner. Some of my tallest friends were the short ones when I met them as a young teenager, then they shot up a few years later. I remember one in particular who was about my height when he was 14 and I was 11, then a year later he was 6 foot! (and I never went beyond 5'4")

Just checked DS is 4ft 6 (12 next month) and was about 4ft 5 when ne started secondary, so smaller than your boy.
However, Im 5ft 2 and DH 5ft 8. DS twin is prob about 4ft 8. Having reread yr post though and with your family's height prob best to check it out.

I might warn you though that our doc also examined DS testicles, which came in small. I felt awful for him as he was a bit humiliated as you can imagine. There was no way though we could disguise it as a routine test due to his twin. That's when we decided no more messing him about.

Thank you again for replies. Middleoftheroad, you have taken another thought out of my mind. He is a little small around the ‘manhood’ area. Without sounding ridiculous I have nothing to compare him with having three daughters. 😳

All these blasé 'don't worry mine was tiny and shot up' stories are fine unless there is a problem.

My ds is tiny and in Y8. He has growth deficiency, will be lucky to get to 5'6 and we have checks. Unfortunately the consultant overruled our local one and he doesn't get treatment. With all the crap about small men I am really worried about him growing up, we know he is two years behind his peers already from scans.

If you are worried, go and see the GP.

Amused by the stretch marks comment up thread. I had thought this was an issue for women and their hips (ahem) so was foolishly blurred “what have you done to your back” to my 14 year old - he looked as though someone had been at him with a crumping iron and then realised that his must be what happens if you grow 5 inches in 6 months.

It is a tricky one - as everyone has said , year 7 is a funny one for boys - they vary in size so much. And I have experience of late bursts - my brother was tiny and doctors in Canada were urging hormones on him when he was as young as 8 (Thanks goodness we didn’t as this was in the very early 80s when there was lots of issues with these products) and at the end of year 10 he was still the shortest boy at his boarding School and he is now about 6ft 1. However, both my parents (and I ) grew late - both daddy and I were still growing at 18/19

Definitely don’t take him to the doctor first off though - go on your own.

Op just to add on the "manhood area"- with the growth spurt in height there tends to be another growth spurt down there too, sorry for tmi

My ds's best friend is shall we say " well packaged " according to ds who saw him when they were getting changed after sports.
Ds was obsessed over this for a while and still is occasionally. I found a ruler next to his bed for months!

Him and his friends have been watching adult material I am guessing from what he was saying and my ds especially was comparing himself to the men on there.

Like I said at the top of my post, with the height there is usually big changes in others areas. Ds was 15 last week and I've been helping him to shave since last summer.

He has AS and is a massive worrier. I ended up googling size issues for him and put his mind at ease.

He's 6ft 1 and built like a rugby player and has size 14 feet. It's hard at this end of the spectrum too as I have terrible trouble getting him shoes and trainers.

Please do not worry about your boy. He will catch up. One day he will talk to you and sound like a man, still freaks me out occasionally.
They go from cute little boys to hairy teenagers quite quickly. It's hard when we are the opposite sex and can't always advise them. My ds prefers to speak to me over his dad which can be frustrating.

Youe mind will be put at ease when he starts high school and you go to the first parents evening and you see the huge spectrum of boys there. Some of them look tiny, others look like men.
Eventually, they all catch up. I'm a worrier too so totally understand

I noticed a concurrent manhood surge with height surge in y8 if that is any reassurance ... As others have said, its probably not a bad idea to rule out an actual growth issue but it is also perfectly possible that he will catch up a bit at puberty, as mine did. Hopefully that will be the case for your son, it does seem to even them all uo a bit in most cases, where there is no underlying issue.

DS is the same age and also going to year 7 in sept. He’s just under the 10th percentile.

I was concerned about it but DS doesn’t seem to care. DD says there are lots of small boys in year 7.

He does get some ribbing about it at school. Was called ‘midget’ a few times by the same boy. It didn’t last long after DS retaliated put it that way.

DH has terrible stretch marks on his back from a sudden growth spurt. I have none!

FWIW both DH and I were 'shrimps' when we started at secondary school, (smaller than your son is) as was DS (DD much less so). We adults are now taller than average for our generation, DS is about average (but I reckon still has some growing to do).

I have known some boys going to secondary school who have needed special extra small blazers ordering in for them.

A lot of boys suddenly grow age 13/14. So long as you aren’t concerned about his health-is he eating enough, any signs of vitamin deficiency?, is his digestive system ok?-then it will most likely sort itself out.

OP, one thing that might put your mind at rest is finding out if he has a growth delay. This is simply a hand xray where they see how developed the skeleton is. My DS is very small and the xray showed he is about two years behind - so he will have his growth spurt (and start puberty) two years later than "normal" and also grow for longer. It gave him a lot of reassurance. We were told this growth delay is a very common reason for short stature.

When my dd started in Year 7 at Secondary she was taller than most of the boys but now in Year 8 most of them are catching her up

It’s to do with how much they are into puberty at that stage. Our Y7 vary absolutely massively. Like by more than an entire foot. There are those who are still like little boys with very little puberty started and there are those that look like men with broken voices, hairy legs, facial hair and tall. I don’t think you need to worry at this stage. It seems pretty normal for some of them to look about 5 years older than others.

I think you may have quite a tall class. Y6 DD is 4 ft 4, so two inches smaller than your son. She is small, but not the smallest in her year. There are 2 girls and 3 boys shorter than her. She absolutely hates being shorter but she is following her centile growth charts.
I would reiterate the observations that Y7/8/9 includes boys and girls of all kinds of heights and development - and that the disparity between boys continues in Y10 & 11.

My son started y7 as one of the smallest but in y8 shot up to 6foot. Too early to worry. Boys continue getting taller until 19/20 unlike girls who stop 2 years after periods.